John McCusker, The Times-PicayuneLSU QB Jarrett Lee overcame a rough start to lead LSU to a comeback win over Troy.

BATON ROUGE -- Maybe this is Jarrett Lee's redemption game. It looked as if Lee had buried himself after throwing his seventh interception returned for a touchdown in the second quarter. But Lee rebounded to guide LSU to its biggest comeback in history in Saturday's 40-31 victory.

Lee was miserable in the first half and was booed after Terrence Moore scored on a 22-yard interception return. But he rallied by completing 18 of 26 passes in the second half for 205 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 20 completions on 34 attempts for 216 yards.

The comeback eclipsed an LSU rally from a 21-0 deficit at Ole Miss in 1977, a game the Tigers won 28-21. It also bettered a 20-point rally in 1996 as LSU turned a 34-14 fourth-quarter deficit into a 35-34 victory against Houston.

JEFFERSON FACTOR: LSU fans begging for freshman quarterback Jordan Jefferson to cure their ills finally got their wish. Jefferson's first two passes were off target, and when his receivers were covered, he took off running. Jefferson scored LSU's first touchdown in the third period on a fourth-down, 3-yard run. He faked a handoff and rolled right, just getting inside the right pylon. Jefferson finished with six carries for 14 yards and with one pass completion in six attempts for 5 yards. It was his first career touchdown.

SCOTT MILESTONE: Though the LSU running game looked like it was attacking in quicksand, running back Charles Scott had enough yardage to become the eighth back to gain at least 1,000 yards in a season. Kevin Faulk did it three times, and Charles Alexander and Dalton Hilliard twice each. Scott has 1,071 yards on 180 carries and 14 touchdowns.

EARLY GAMBLE: Troy won the toss, declined the option and then tried a short kick down the middle of the field. LSU's Karnell Hatcher recovered for the Tigers at the LSU 43, but the Tigers could do nothing with the good field position and punted after three plays. Troy continued to short kick the remainder of the game and intentionally punted low line drives to keep the ball out of the hands of LSU return man Trindon Holliday.

TOLIVER SHINES: LSU sophomore wide receiver Terrance Toliver, who has struggled to get on the field this season, came up big with a career-high four receptions, for 54 yards. Toliver's leaping catch for 33 yards helped ignite LSU's second touchdown drive that cut Troy's lead to 31-17 early in the fourth quarter.

PASS-HAPPY: Troy threw passes on its first 10 snaps and on 15 of the 16 plays in its opening touchdown drive. Troy quarterback Levi Brown completed nine of the 15 throws for 80 yards and converted all four third-down tries. The only running play was a 13-yard scamper by DuJuan Harris. Brown finished the game with 72 pass attempts and the two teams combined for 113.

BROTHERS TEAM UP: Brothers Rahim Alem and Chad Jones teamed up to make a huge defensive play to aid the comeback. Alem, who changed his name from Al Jones Jr. three years ago, rushed Troy quarterback Levi Brown hard and forced an interception to Chad Jones, who returned the ball 10 yards to the Troy 13-yard line. That set up a field goal to cut the Troy lead to 31-27 with 8:45 left in the game.

SUPER LEG: Colt David hit a career-long 52-yard field goal in the first period and also with his first of four extra points to become the SEC career leader in made extra points made, passing Tennessee's Jeff Hall. Unfortunately, David also snapped his streak of 105 consecutive extra points when he missed after LSU took the lead. David Browndyke holds the LSU record with 109 in a row, and it's safe from David.